Silent Secrets
by Chibi Angelic Slayer
Summary: AU. Seto Kaiba has a secret. A secret that he and only two others share. He has spent years trying to avoid it, but when buried dreams of the past begin to resurface, Seto is plunged into the world he fought so hard to keep at bay his entire life. YAOI


Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! does not belong to me. If it did, the US version wouldn't be so eff-ed up...

Hi! This is Chibi Angelic Slayer. /debris comes flying at her/ AHHHHH! I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry! Xx

For those of you who are wondering why refuse is flying at me, or why I am sorry, it's because I started a YGO story previously, but only got two chapters in and I'm not going to finish it. But to those of you who reviewed and liked it even though it sucked, thank you very much. I dedicate this new story to you guys. And to all my new readers (considering I have any at all...), it's great to have you aboard!

By the way, this story is still in progress, so if you ask a question I can't answer, it's not cause I don't wanna, it's probably cause I don't know... ;

WARNINGS: There is going to be character death, slight swearing, and yaoi. You know, homosexuality? So if you're an immature, close-minded, Yami/Seto hater, go away. To everyone else? Enjoy. Or... don't... because you know this is kinda angsty and if you did enjoy, you would be... scary. Oo;;

_Silent Secrets_

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He was a child again... Gozabura was out and he and Mokuba were in his room practicing their otherwise forbidden card games. Seto laughed as Mokuba placed a Queen card over an eight.

Mokuba, you can't-..." he started, then trailed off. He heard a door slam downstairs. Quickly, the small blue-eyed boy began pushing all their playing cards back in the cardboard box and handed it to his younger brother.

"Go hide in the paneling in the closet. And don't come out till I tell you to, no matter what you hear. Now go!" he said, shoving Mokuba into the closet and shutting the door.

"But Seto-" came his little brother's muffled voice.

"Hush!" warned the blue-eyed boy. He ran over to the bed in the corner of the room and sat down on it.

Not a moment later, the door was thrown open, revealing Seto's stepfather standing there. His face was slightly red and Seto could smell the bitter aroma of alcohol from where he sat.

Gozabura strode in, staring at Seto the whole way. "How is it..." Gozabura started. His words were slightly slurred and Seto could smell his pungent breath even worse now. "That whenever I come in, you're sitting so angelically on your bed? Every single fucking time!" he growled.

"I have nothing better to do..." mumbled Seto. Gozabura was enraged by this for some reason.

"Nothing better to do?" he slurred, "Well, why don't you make yourself useful and do some good around the house?" Gozabura shouted, inching closer to Seto's face.

The young brunette glared unflinchingly at Gozabura, "Why ask of others what you aren't willing to do yourself?" he replied. This infuriated the inebriated man even further.

"I'll teach you to mouth off, boy!" he screamed. With that, he backhanded the young boy hard, sending him careening to the floor. Seto sat up slowly, holding his injured knee, only to be kicked back against the wall.

Seto cried out in pain, tears forming in his crystalline eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He looked at the closet where he'd seen a small shudder. Luckily, Gozabura was too drunk to do so himself. The chocolate-haired boy stared up at his stepfather.

Gozabura stood, snarling, over him and began pushing Seto against the wall with his shoe. Seto shut his eyes tightly and as the rubber soles crushed his small chest against the wall.

"S-Stop it..." he coughed out, only making the ruthless man push harder. Seto blinked away tears and began feeling around blindly with his hand. The boy's hand found a small building block and picked it up, pretending to conceal it. Gozabura noticed this and bent down to take the block from Seto, when the boy pushed himself to the side and scrambled up, running out of the room and holding his ribs.

A roar echoed from his room and thundering footsteps followed him, but Seto knew he had to lead the blundering drunkard away from his little brother before he noticed something.

Seto ran into the laundry room down a hall and climbed into the chute, balling up a shirt and biting on it to refrain from making any sounds.

The footsteps slowed as they drew nearer to the laundry room. Seto held his breath, wincing slightly at the action. But soon the footsteps sped up, fading down the opposite hallway.

Seto had to keep from sobbing in relief. He lowered himself down the chute and dropped back into the room. Peeking outside first, Seto hurried back up the stairs, making sure to step lightly. Luckily enough, he would be able to hear if Gozabura was coming, because the idiot had forgotten to take off his shoes in his drunken fit at the door.

Opening and shutting the door to his room, Seto made sure to lock it. "Mokuba," he called hoarsely, "you can come out now..."

The closet door squeaked open and Mokuba hurried out. "Seto?" he asked, walking over, "What's--" he started, but Seto smiled weakly and said, "Let's go to sleep little bro."

Mokuba blinked. "Okay..." he agreed, jumping on the bed and crawling under the blankets. "Can I sleep here tonight?"he chimed. Seto nodded, continuing his small smile.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."he said. He did his best not to limp as he neared the bed, lying down on the covers. Mokuba snuggled deep under the sheets, smiling contentedly.

"'Night, onii-chan..." he sighed.

"...'Night Mokuba..."Seto replied quietly. Mokuba was asleep within minutes, but Seto lay awake silently, tears and blood mixing on the pillow.

Seto sat up in bed, panting and sweat trickling down his face. He wiped his forehead and looked out the window. It was still dark outside, and thick black clouds obscured the moon. The young CEO balled a fist in his hair, feeling a headache coming on.

"Never a dreamless might..." he muttered, pulling the sheets off himself and sliding onto the carpeted floor. He stood up, walking to the glass balcony doors and pulling them open, feeling a cool rush of air. Seto stepped outside just as the moon reemerged. The night air was chilling, especially with Seto wearing only a loose, white, longsleeved, button-up shirt and a pair of black boxers, but he needed to wake up. Judging by the position of the moon, it couldn't be much later than two o'clock.

He leaned on the railing of the balcony and sighed. 'How long will it be before I sleep peacefully...?', he thought tiredly. The brunette overlooked the grounds of Kaiba Manor from the third story. In the daytime, he never had enough time to actually stop and look at anything, or most of the time anyway. In fact, lately, he didn't even have time to duel. Now that he was almost out of school, Seto was working longer and harder than ever. And it was pissing him off badly. He got so much flak from the mutt for having to decline duels. 'Scaredy, this' and 'Rich pansy, that,' ... Why couldn't he understand...?

Strangely enough though, Yami Mutou seemed to understand perfectly; almost too perfectly. Sometimes, he even defended Seto, saying that he had Mokuba to support, or that he was too tired from work. It was strange, but Seto actually appreciated it, although he would never admit it...

Seto stood up straight, running his hand through his chocolate-colored hair. He often wondered how different their lives would have been had the two boys not been adopted by Gozabura... But there was no point in reminiscing about the past. This was the path he had chosen, and like it or not, there was no way out...

"Seto...?" came a small voice from behind him, snapping him back from his thoughts. The brunette spun around, spotting his little brother at the door in his blue night shirt and pants.

"M-Mokuba..." Seto blinked, "What are you doing up...?" he said, staring at the raven-haired boy.

"I could ask you the same thing," Mokuba replied, shadowing his brother in his questioning glare.

The young CEO blinked again, then grinned, "You're right... We should both be in bed..." he said, walking over to his little brother. "C'mon..." he gently shoved Mokuba back into the room.

"'Kay," the younger Kaiba agreed.

Seto took the knobs of the balcony doors and before he closed them, took one last look at the moon, just as it was once again clouding over...

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/overshadowed eyes/ After my long absence, I had thought that the same rules as before applied now that I was back... but apparently not. I formatted this entire document in HTML before my older brother told me it was no longer necessary to do it yourself...

/wind fwoosh/ Does the world really hate me so much...?

Besides that, there was foreshadowing... maybe? Sorry, the prologue isn't that exciting, but it'll get better, I promise!... /Can they sue me for lying.../stares blankly into distance/

Review, plz. There is room for improvement... T T


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